Call to the Bull Pen
by apAidan
Summary: I have a number of stories that are in varying states of completion in addition to the one(s) that are currently works in progress. These aren't ideas that are up for free adoption, and I'm slowly working on these as inspiration strikes. I'll be adding others and moving some of these to active published status as they reach a point where they're completable.
1. Clones

**Bull pen 01 – Clones**

_This is the first chapter of a story that I've been working on for a while now. James and Lily survive that Halloween, but everyone thinks they were killed since Albus meddled in their plan to use the prophecy against Voldemort. This story is currently up to Chapter Fourteen. This is only a working title._

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**Send in the Clones **

_**A/N**__ – This story begins on October 31__st__ 1995 with a prologue that begins on the same night in 1981. Almost everything that you know about canon that occurred prior to that moment has happened and will be incorporated into this storyline. 'Almost' and 'that you know' being the key._

_Everything recognizable within the Harry Potter universe is the property of JK Rowling and various corporate entities, and to them I offer my humble thanks for presenting the world with such a diverse and interesting framework. No copyright infringement is intended. _

_Finally, it's very rare that I can point to the actual inspiration for a work, other than the Harry Potter canon novels of course, but this one was inspired by the ff user The Emerald Doe. Well, actually the profile page for that reader. However, if you find you dislike this story or its concept, the fault is entirely mine. _

_Exactly two clones were harmed in the writing of this story. Ok, technically any harm to them came before the prologue, but since they were never really aware/alive, they didn't/couldn't mind. _

_And though Albus wouldn't agree, the things related in this story that stray from canon are all for __**The Greater Good**__. (__**The Greater Good**__ – copyright 1898 by Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore and Gellert 'Gef' Grindelwald, all rights reserved – remember folks, it's not officially __**The Greater Good**__ if it isn't capitalized)_

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**Prologue – Bait and Switch**

_2215 31 October 1981- Number Seven Peverell Place, Godric's Hollow_

As a brief golden flash surrounded the ginger witch that his minion desired, Lord Voldemort watched without emotion as the green energy of his killing curse struck down the foolish girl. Dismissing the effect that had occurred when he had killed both her and her husband, he decided that it was one more of Dumbledore's inadequate protections that had done nothing to prevent him from taking their lives. Shrugging off the value that Snape had placed on her, he turned his attention to the toddler standing in the cot.

"I'm not certain what hopes the old fool placed with you, but this should convince him to end his futile resistance," Voldemort chuckled as he watched the dark-haired toddler shaking the side of his cot, his emerald green eyes blazing as he stared at the lifeless corpse of his mother.

"Though it would demoralize those fools more if I simply took you, killing you and the Longbottom brat will show Dumbledore and the Ministry exactly how costly it is to resist the inevitable."

Pointing his yew and phoenix wand at the child, he took a deep breath and quietly intoned, "Avada Kedavra."

The last thing Voldemort saw was a golden nimbus around the child and the green beam rushing back at him.

As his body disintegrated from the violent release of his soul drawing energy from the various soul anchors he had created, the clothes the Dark Lord was wearing fell to the ground and his wand clattered to the floor of the nursery, rolling towards the door leaving the room silent as the crying abruptly stopped.

A swish of fabric, and a tall wizard in multi-coloured robes, with a long white beard and twinkling eyes appeared in the corner of the nursery. Shaking his head wearily, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore sighed.

"Tom, we'll have to speak about this one day, but at least now you have a chance."

Walking over to the now silent child, Albus smiled as he leaned over and examined the cut on the child's forehead, the only mark on him from Voldemort's Killing Curse. Conjuring a binky, he offered it to the child and smiled as the infant stared at him.

"There, there, Harry. I know you don't understand, but this was necessary if I'm ever to have a chance at redeeming my old student from the Dark."

Smiling beatifically, Albus Dumbledore, the only living holder of the Order of Merlin, First Class, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and currently Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, laid the child down in his cot and cast a series of spells on the infant.

"Your parents would object most vigorously, but I really need to bind your magic beyond the normal bindings that you already have." Continuing to smile as the boy stared up at him with those emerald eyes that were the exact match of his now dead mother's, Albus shrugged.

"The prophecy says that you'll be the one to enable Tom's defeat, but I need you to make him mortal, not destroy him once he returns. Finally facing his fears, his mortality, he should be willing to turn from the Dark and return to the Light, and your death will accomplish that."

Casting a shield over the cot, the aged wizard began casting a few blasting and other hexes around the room, making it look as if a great struggle had occurred. Dumbledore then turned and picked up the yew and phoenix feather wand that his former student had dropped. Turning towards the door, he pulled the invisibility cloak around him and headed down the stairs

His descent down the stairs of the cottage went unmarked by the pudgy wizard with ratlike features who was peering into the cottage, listening for continued sounds of conflict from upstairs.

Just as Peter Pettigrew stepped into the sitting room, a thin orange beam of magic struck him in the forehead and his eyes glazed over.

"Peter," Dumbledore's voice began, soft and comforting, "you followed your Lord up the stairs and saw his killing curse rebound from young Harry Potter and strike him down. Voldemort's body disappeared and all that are left is his cloak and his wand."

Seeing the absentminded nod from the traitor, Dumbledore smiled and continued.

"You're going to take and keep Lord Voldemort's wand until he returns. You need to hide yourself, because Sirius Black will be looking for you to punish you for betraying the Potters. When you eventually make your way to Devonshire, you can use your animagus form to hide out in Arthur Weasley's household as a rat. One of the older boys will surely adopt you as a pet, and you can snoop around to hear information regarding your Master so you can help him return."

Pausing for a second, seeing the expectant look on Pettigrew's face, Albus smiled coldly. "You need to make people think you are dead, and that Sirius was the traitor so no one will be looking for you." Seeing the slow nod from Pettigrew, Albus picked up a small peppershaker from a nearby shelf and turned it into a portkey. Placing the peppershaker and the wand in Pettigrew's hands, Albus spoke one last time.

"Go to London, and wait for an opportunity to confront Black before you disappear. Then make your way to Ottery St. Catchpole and join the Weasleys and wait for word of your Master."

As Albus touched the peppershaker with his wand, a blue light pulsed and the traitor was gone.

Smiling, Albus pulled the cloak over his head to await the arrival of Sirius Black.

Deep below the cottage, in a cellar hidden by a separate casting of the Fidelius that was unknown to Albus Dumbledore, a faint golden light pulsed slowly as a moonstone glowed with the rhythm of a human heartbeat.

In the faint illumination from the large gemstone set into the crown of a staff that was thrust into the floor, two bodies lay on stone tables, resting peacefully and waiting for the energy in the stone to reach the proper point. Due to events above them, specifically the meddling of Dumbledore with Harry's magic, they would wait much longer than anticipated.

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**Chapter One – Hope Returns – Better Late than Never**

_23:25 31 October, 1995 – Number Seven Peverell Place, Godric's Hollow, the cellar_

As the light pulsing from the moonstone set atop an oaken staff thrust into the floor of the cellar finally reached the proper intensity, a pair of beams of blue energy stabbed out of the gem and poured energy into smaller moonstones that had been set into bracers surrounding the left wrists of the two individuals on the stone tables. As the energy struck the last of the twelve stones on the bracers, a shimmering field dropped from around each of the bodies and a blue corona of energy spread from their wrists to envelope them totally. Their eyes popped open simultaneously and they began to breathe for the first time since they had arrived in the cellar.

Sitting up slowly, Lily Potter shook her head and grimaced. "Nowhere in that tome Perri sent us did it say that I'd feel like I was Albus' age after we were revived," she snarked as she looked over at her husband.

"She warned us that the longer that the reactivation was delayed, the more pronounced the effects would be." Shaking his head, he took in a deep breath and stretched. "I still think we should have had the wards set to bring Harry down here with us. We could have had Padfoot take care of him down here rather than take him to my parents' place," James answered, rolling his shoulders and sliding off the edge of the stone table.

"Starlight, I know you don't like the thought of it, but we need to assign an elf for the cottage," he continued looking around. "Never noticed how dusty the place was."

"Prongs, will you quit harping on that," came the amused reply. "I was wrong about house elves, and I admitted it back in school when we covered them for our NEWTS. Service is necessary, and if your mum and Pellinore want to assign one of the junior elves to keep this place up, you won't hear a peep out of me." Smiling at the smirk on her husband's face, Lily picked up her wand and gave it a flick. As glowing numbers appeared in front of her, she frowned.

"11:30." Shaking her head, Lily shrugged wearily. "It took fifteen minutes longer for Harry's magic to fill the gemstone than we thought." Looking over at James, her eyes widened at the look of panic on his face. 'What is it?"

"Take another look at the display from the Tempus spell," he replied in a quiet voice. "A bit more than fifteen extra minutes has passed."

Turning her attention back to the glowing numerals, Lily's eyes widened as she looked at the final numbers in the string. While the month and date were the same, according to the display hanging in the air between them, the year was 1995; fourteen years, one hour and forty-five minutes after the Dark Lord came crashing through their wards.

"I must have made a mistake with the tempus spell, a side-effect of switching with the clone. There's no way it took fourteen years for Harry's magic to fill the crystal to a level to bring us back," Lily declared. Closing her eyes in thought, she shook her head. "Even with the distance between here and Wales, there shouldn't have been more than a minimal degradation of the power signature over that distance."

"As soon as he felt the wards fall, Padfoot would have been on his way," James mused looking at the dust on the horizontal surfaces of the cellar in a new light.

"He wasn't going to be that far away, especially since we all agreed it was very suspicious that Peter was 'out of town' this weekend. Wormy wasn't the brightest fairy light on the tree, but he knew that betraying the underlying cause of the Fidelius would have triggered a reaction in the wards the first time he set foot on the property after telling Voldemort. Fortunately for us he never realized that we would know the minute he betrayed us." His eyes darkening in anger, James glared off into the distance.

"I refuse to believe that Wormy got the drop on Paddy."

Pulling out the pendant she was wearing, Lily stared at the gems that decorated the goblin-silver disk. "All three of them are alive," she answered holding the disk so her husband could see it.

"Wormy's gem is still black, that shows he went through with the betrayal." Seeing the disbelieving look on James' face, she smiled bitterly. "I know, both of us ending up mostly dead was a good clue, but this confirms it."

Tapping the garnet that had blackened when their friend had betrayed them with her fingernail, Lily mourned the loss of their friend, even if it was through his own betrayal.

The thought of lost friends brought a disturbing snippet of her conversation with Voldemort to mind. Dreading James' reaction on a subject that was already touchy, she took a deep breath.

"I don't think Wormy was the only one who was responsible for our betrayal," she said slowly. Seeing the shocked look on his face, she quickly added. "It wasn't Paddy or Moony; both of their gems are fine." Looking back down at the calcite that signified Sirius' life force, she furrowed her brows. "Though there's a faint discoloration to his, almost the colour of an obliviation."

Seeing the 'get on with it' look on her husband's face, she sighed sadly. "From what Voldemort was saying, he wasn't looking to kill me and he mentioned something about disappointing one of his minions when he cast the curse at me." Seeing the blank look on her husband's face, she chuckled.

"Prongs, you know that there's only one Death Eater out there that would care whether or not I lived or died." Seeing his face harden, she nodded. "Sev is mixed up in this, somehow."

"If he's still alive, we'll kill him later," was his reply, his voice clipped and terse. "How's Harry?"

Touching the emerald set into the center of the pendant, she frowned. "He's in pain, not great but it's constant. Also his magic is weaker than I would have expected." Shaking her head, she turned and allowed the pendant to orient her as she concentrated on her connection through the stone.

"He's north and east, and the distance is pretty much spot on for him being at Hogwarts." Seeing that James was about to announce they were heading there, she held up her hand.

"Not without information we're not. If we've been gone fourteen years, everyone thinks we're dead. If our 'plan' didn't work to come back right away, there's a chance that our provisions for Harry in the event of our death didn't either."

"Padfoot or Moony?"

"On Halloween, Sirius would be the best choice," Lily replied. Touching the calcite that pulsed in time with Sirius' heartbeat, she concentrated as she closed her eyes. Whispering the trigger for the sending spell, she felt the gem pulse once and then resume its previous pattern.

"If he's wearing the ring, then he'll hear my message. If not, then he'll see my patronus and he'll know to come here." Taking a deep breath, Lily watched her husband for a moment. "All right there?"

"We'll know as soon as Padfoot shows up," was James' reply. Looking around the small cellar of the cottage, he waved his wand and the stairs to the outside rematerialized. "Might as well head up and wait for Paddy in the moonlight." Grinning at his wife, he waggled his eyebrows.

"Want to snog while we wait on him?"

"James, be serious…" Lily began before breaking out in laughter. When she finally got herself under control, she took his hand and headed for the steps. "Stop acting like Sirius and let's wait outside for him. We need to get to the bottom of this and quickly."

Walking up the steps, Lily smirked as her hand slid down her husband's back and she pinched him on the bum.


	2. A Tale of Two Weddings

**Bull Pen 02 - Double trouble**

_a/n – This story is the precursor for Lunch at Maxine's and tells the story of exactly how Hermione and Harry ended up with Hermione having lunch with her mother that fine spring day at Maxine's. It starts off very canonish, which means that Harry and Ginny are together and planning a wedding, as are Ron and Hermione. For all the Harmonians out there, take a deep breath, read (or reread) Lunch … and sit back and see exactly how we got there. Currently this one is up through Chapter Ten._

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**A Tale of Two Weddings**

**Chapter 1 - Summit at the Burrow**

It was a warm spring day at the Burrow. The sun was shining, not a cloud to be seen, the flowers were in bloom, the gnomes were scurrying happily around the garden, and a battle royal was being waged in the kitchen. A titanic struggle as Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Helen Granger, and Hermione Granger squared off in classic mother-daughter combat as they planned two upcoming weddings.

The grooms and fathers of the brides were in the traditional location of males since wedding planning had been invented; totally out of the picture. Ensconced in the sitting room, the four men were glancing nervously at the door; most hoping a call into the battle zone would not come.

"Harry, I told you that having everyone here at one time was a mistake." Shaking his head, Ron was shooting nervous glances at the door.

"What's Ginny's line in the sand? Hermione's is that she's really enamored with that Victorian stuff and her mum's got a stack of pictures from some Italian designer that are anything but." Shaking his head, he turned to his father and future father-in-law.

"Mr. Granger, I truly love your daughter, but do you think your wife would ever forgive me if I convince Hermione to elope?"

"Ron, son, firstly, my name is Alex. Eventually I hope you'll remember that. Secondly, I don't think either Helen or Molly would be willing to forgive you for quite some time. And thirdly, if you think you can talk my daughter into or out of anything she's got her heart set on, you haven't been paying very much attention for the past nine years."

Glancing over at Harry, Alex frowned for a second before turning his attention back to his future son-in-law.

"Ron, the best thing you can do is hope that you aren't called into the middle of that 'planning session' in there. And if you are called in, my advice is that you back Hermione with whatever she's arguing with my wife and your mother about. Molly and Helen will eventually forgive and forget. Hermione will forgive you, maybe, but I doubt she'll ever forget it if you don't back her up." Looking calmly at Ron's horrified stare, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

Laughing, Harry silently agreed with Hermione's dad. "Ron, Ginny's got three rules for the wedding. Nothing orange, no lace, and absolutely nothing frilly on the tables at the reception. Other than that, she's willing to let Molly and Helen plan to their heart's content." Listening to Arthur's snort as the three wizards remembered Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry looked wistful. "It could happen." All four men burst into laughter.

The laughter abruptly stopped when the door popped open and Hermione's face, a bit flushed and with that manic light in her eye that never was a good thing, peered around the edge of the door.

"Harry, please. I need you." Frowning, she looked around the room as if in search of something.

"Ron, would you be a dear and see if those books on Victorian fashions are up in Ginny's old room?" Flashing an impatient look at Harry, she smiled as he got up and moved towards her. Ron stared open mouthed as she grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him toward the kitchen, shutting the door behind him.

"Blimey, I thought he was brave the night he went to let Voldemort kill him." Shaking his head, Ron stared at the door in disbelief.

"Dad, you reckon Kingsley would be willing to give him another Order of Merlin for going in there?" Standing up, he headed for the stairs, glancing fearfully at the kitchen door until he was well past it and heading up towards Ginny's old room on the landing.

Alex looked over at Arthur, who was staring thoughtfully at his son with a worried look on his face. Clearing his throat, he brought Arthur out of whatever reverie he was lost in.

"Sorry about that." Arthur smiled sheepishly. "Alex, can I ask you a question?" Looking serious, Arthur glanced around to see that they were alone.

"Of course Arthur. Though I imagine it's the same question I've wanted to ask you since those two got engaged." Smiling ruefully, he shook his head as Arthur's eyes widened.

"You know my daughter as well as I do, I think. Not Hermione the little girl, but Hermione the witch and now Hermione the woman. Helen and I have always been grateful that you opened your home to our daughter and protected her as one of your own when we couldn't." Nodding at Arthur, he lowered his voice.

"You were going to ask me about Hermione and Harry, right?"

"Actually, yes." Looking very sad, Arthur leaned forward towards the other father of the bride.

"Ginevra has fancied Harry since she was six, but the first time I saw Harry and Hermione get off the Hogwarts Express together my heart broke for my little girl because I would have sworn that they were going to end up together. And when I realized that Ron had started to fancy Hermione during his fourth year, I thought it would tear the three of them apart." Shaking his head, he sighed.

"Things turned out differently than I could have seen."

"Arthur, I respect and like your son. He's a fine young man and I'm certain he'll do everything he can to make my little girl happy. But listening to her talk about Harry all those years, I had thought he would be the one." Wiping his eyes, he sat back in his chair.

"He made such a difference for her, right from the very start. Starting that first September, every letter mentioned him, and then once November got here, it was 'Harry this' and 'Harry that'. She blossomed and became a every different child, thanks to both Harry and Ron." Smiling he glanced over at the door where he could hear Hermione's voice carrying through the downstairs, 'Harry, don't you agree that this would be perfect for a winter wedding?' Looking at Arthur, both men smiled sadly.

"Do you think we did the right thing by not saying something about it?"

Shaking his head, Arthur chuckled as he could hear Harry trying to convince the two mothers that Ginny's figure would be better suited to the designs that Helen had brought and Hermione would be the picture of a Victorian bride in a winter setting.

"Those two will end up running the Ministry together. I don't know, they're both very strong willed, and neither cares to discuss what they're feeling, though they've both gotten better about it.

"I've always thought that either the two of them worked it out between them, and they're happy with their relationship or they've both managed to convince themselves that they're not meant to be and were lucky enough to find love with my son and daughter. Either way, since they're both in agreement, I doubt that anyone would be able to sway them about it. And they truly love Ron and Ginny, so I think they'll all four be happy."

Bounding down the steps, Ron stopped outside the door with a stack of books in his arms. Looking fearfully at the door, he glanced at his father and future father-in-law before he carefully shifted the stack and then raised his hand to knock at the door.

Just as his hand was about to make contact with the frame, the door popped open and Ginny jumped back at the sight of her brother directly in front of her. Squealing, she grabbed the stack from him, muttered a quick "Thanks bro" and shut the door as Harry was saying "and with this dress for Hermione, Ron would look very good in a cape."

"A cape?" Shaking his head, Ron came back into the front room and sat quietly on the divan.

"Do you think Harry's lost it finally?" Looking from Arthur to Alex, he shrugged his shoulders.

"Ron, just be thankful that Harry's a friend of yours and willing to let both of them use him to run interference with their mothers." Chuckling, Arthur smiled at the look of shock on his son's face.

"This is why Harry and Hermione decided to plan both weddings at the same time. Both mothers will get what they want; it just won't be in the wedding they want it in.

"And the planning will be done and out of the way so your sister can concentrate on the World Cup finals coming up. What say the three of us retire to my workshop? I could use Alex's assistance with a couple of things I've collected and the further you are away from the kitchen, Ron, the better."

All three men gave a furtive look at the kitchen door and chuckled as they left the sitting room, the sounds of conflict still to be heard, even out in Arthur's shop.


	3. Kidnapping Harry Potter

**Bull Pen 03 – Kidnap**

_a/n – This one started on two fronts. One was a review that mentioned the fact that I never use Dan and Emma for the names of Hermione's parents. The second was an offhand remark in a fanfiction regarding a 'surprise adoption' of Harry to rescue him from Durzkaban. This is what happened when I mixed the two together. It's only got two chapters, so far, because I haven't had the time to research the RenFaire circuit in Britain back in the 90s just yet. _

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**Kidnapping Harry Potter for Fun and Profit**

a/n –

* * *

**Chapter One – There's Nothing Like a Plan ….**

_4 p.m. Saturday 3 July, 1995 – King's Cross Station, London_

Looking one more time over her shoulder, Hermione Granger watched Harry Potter disappear from sight in the company of his uncle. While Harry had never been overly forthcoming about his childhood, the things he said, along with what he didn't, left no doubt in Hermione's mind about what had gone on while Harry was growing up in Surrey.

Abuse. Pure and simple abuse.

And if there had been any doubt in her mind, the reaction of Harry to his uncle when they had arrived at the station would have cemented her opinion as fact. Growing up, she had been drilled on the signs of abuse so that she would recognize it and try to get help, or at least not wander blindly into a situation where she might be at risk herself.

Shaking her head, she looked around to see if anyone was paying her any mind as she headed towards the station's exit. Expertly pushing her trunk with Crookshanks' carrier perched upon it in front of her on the luggage trolley Harry had found for her, and reminding herself to send a letter to Katie Bell thanking her for putting the featherlight charm on her trunk before they had left the train, Hermione smiled as she saw the people she had been looking for.

Waving with one hand, she shouted, "Dan, Emma," as she headed towards where the hunter green Range Rover that was idling at the curb as Emma Granger waved back and Dan opened the rear gate.

As she neared the vehicle and looked through the open hatch, she saw the last two people she expected to see sitting in the back seat of Dan and Emma's car, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Her parents.

Releasing a string of expletives in Macedonian that she had wheedled out of Viktor after the ridiculous Second Task under her breath, Hermione tried not to roll her eyes at the apprehensive expressions on Dan and Emma's faces.

While closely related to Bulgarian, Viktor was very insistent that the Macedonian dialects were much more suited to the uses she had in mind, and she had a much lower chance of having someone actually understanding enough of what she was saying to be offended.

Honestly, if she was resorting to mentioning that someone's father met their mother while stealing bogrolls, she didn't care whether they were offended or not. But since Viktor seemed to have an idealized concept of her, she decided not to strip him of his illusions.

Just yet.

Smiling brightly, which was a dead giveaway that she was less than happy since she never, ever, smiled like that except when she was about to eviscerate someone, she pulled the trolley to a halt beside the Range Rover and cheerily announced, "I'm here. Anyone notice I've been gone for ten months?"

"Of course we have, Poppet," was Dan's typical response to her traditional greeting. "Em and I missed you as soon as you got on that train." Pausing for a moment, he gave his wife a look before smiling at Hermione a bit warily. "Alex and Helen came to the house last night, and since they haven't seen you since last summer …"

"And the hits keep on rolling," Hermione muttered under her breath as she helped Dan load her luggage into the back. Giving the rear cargo area a critical look before allowing Dan to shut the gate, she decided ruefully that there really wasn't enough room in the back left over to keep from looking decidedly rude by declaring she'd ride in the back to keep Crookshanks company, she smiled wearily as he gently squeezed her shoulder in support before she went around and clambered into the rear seat of the Range Rover and pulled the door shut behind her.

Smiling brightly as Emma got in on the other side; she waited until Dan was firmly behind the wheel before turning to her parents.

"All right, you two. Not that I'm not happy to see you, but the usual plan is that I spend at least a week in Oxford in case anyone from the school decides to check up on me for anything and then I catch up with you guys wherever you happen to be on the circuit. What's wrong?"

Staring at her parents, who were smiling guilelessly at her, Hermione was determined to wait them out until they decided to come clean. Not that she didn't love her parents, but she had learned at the tender age of five that her parents saw the world differently from most people that would be considered 'responsible adults' and she had resigned herself at a very young age to being the only adult in the relationship.

It was only when she had come to live with her Aunt Em and Uncle Dan right after her fifth birthday so she could actually attend school on a less than nomadic basis did she realize that not everyone lived their life on the Renaissance and Medieval Faire circuit.

Having guessed that the Mundanes lived differently from the communal life she had grown up with as the daughter of Alex and Helen Granger, better known to their fans at the various faires as Alex the Minstrel and Madam Sayovich the Mystic, it was only a minor case of culture shock when she had ended up moving in with her aunt and uncle who were dentists, for gossake.

While she had been immersed in the books that her parents collected, volumes that didn't necessarily deal with phases of the moon, romantic ballad cycles and other topics of interest to them had opened her eyes to a world beyond living one's life firmly ensconced in an idealized vision of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Which is what made her being declared a witch a mere half dozen years later and then dumped back into a culture with only a middling acquaintance with the twentieth century so ironic.

Hearing the restless shifting up front, Hermione realized that Dan and Emma knew what was coming and they were keeping themselves out of the line of fire, which translated that this was something that landed firmly in the bailiwick of the weirdness that was her real life.

Snorting in disbelief at the inherent irony that her being a witch and attending a school for spellcasters in a castle nestled in a hidden glen in the Highlands and having a ghost as one of her instructors was relatively mainstream compared to her parents' lives, she closed her eyes and asked wearily.

"All right, out with it. You might as well tell me what untamed aquatic fowl we're going to be pursuing."

Nothing, however, in her previous fifteen years of life could have prepared her for her father's answer.

"Well Poppet, we're going to go kidnap your boyfriend Harry from durance vile and then take him back to the Faire for the rest of the summer."


	4. Harry Potter and the Last Chance

**Bull Pen 04 – Afterlife**

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_a/n – This is my humble attempt at Reptillia 28's challenge. I made a slight modification to it in that while everything specified in the challenge was good, for the most part, I wondered why Harry should get all the fun. As a warning, there's a fair bit of Weasley bashing (Ronald, Ginevra, Molly) in the first few chapters, I'm not certain if any will be required after the Golden Duo head back in time to make things right. Did I mention that Ronald and Ginevra make a cameo appearance in Heaven with them? This one currently has eight chapters written._

* * *

**Harry Potter and the Last Chance**

_Story in response to reptillia 28's challenge_

**Chapter One – If it were easy, anyone could do it**

_Eternity, noon local time, a beach on Lunia, 1st of the Seven Heavens_

Afterlife was good.

Basking in the warm radiance that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once, Cassiopeia Lenoir, formerly an alumnus of Beauxbatons (class of 1234), was enjoying her afterlife. Having come to a fairly messy end trying to rescue a quartet of young mundane born witches from the budding Inquisition that was sweeping France, she found herself with a decent amount of opportunities when she arrived at her final reward.

Finding the afterlife markedly different from what had been related to her in her catechisms, she quickly adjusted and applied to the Shepherding Guild, since just sitting around on her derriere for eternity wasn't all that appealing. Her cow of an older sister was still lounging around trying to master the harp, but Cassi was made of better stuff.

Adjusting her sunglasses as she moved her long raven hair out of the way, she looked out over the pearly waters of Mare Ingenii as she felt the warm rays soak into her body. Wearing a swimsuit that was currently in fashion in her old home of France in 1998, she smiled as she renewed the spell that made the pale blue suit translucent to UV rays, allowing her an all-over tan without scandalizing anyone.

Shaking her head over the furor she had caused last time when a wandering group of Puritans had stumbled across where she was sunbathing, she had promised her supervisor that she would at least cover up a bit when she was outside her apartments off duty. On duty, there was that dreadful uniform, but off…

Sighing loudly, she squinted as she looked over towards the beach house and noticed someone approaching her. Grimacing as she recognized Smithers, the very junior gofer for her section of the Shepherding Guild, she rolled her eyes as she discerned the very worried look on the face of her subordinate.

Having worked her way up through the ranks of the Shepherds, until she was a Senior Case Manager with advanced certifications in Fate Management and Armageddon Avoidance, Cassi recognized that particular look on Smithers' face. She herself had looked like that one night in the early 1600s that she was still trying to forget. "Stupid astronomers," she muttered under her breath remembering the burns she had suffered while rescuing her charge.

"Who decides to go sightseeing on the slopes of Mt Vesuvius on your way to face the Inquisition?"

Sighing as her overly eager subordinate approached, she slid the glasses down her nose and glared.

"Monique, what part of this being my day off don't you comprehend?"

Refusing to be cowed, the very junior member of the Shepherding Guild approached in her standard work uniform. Long black robe, hood and cowl pushed back exposing her vibrant red hair to the world, Monique Smithers still hadn't gotten the hang of dragging that ridiculous scythe around with her. Seven feet tall, with a blade of meteoric iron over three feet along its outside curve, she reminded Cassi of a nine year-old dressing up at Halloween as a Grim Reaper.

Which, essentially, she was.

Mortal understanding of anything Heavenly was limited, and the various functions of the Shepherding Guild were no exception. Seeing everything in terms of black and white, which they are sometimes, definitely caused some problems when it came to the Shepherds.

Not realizing that their concepts of 'guardian angels' and 'grim reapers' were actually the same beings, and that they were usually former mortals who decided to do something useful with their heavenly existence, most new arrivals were totally flabbergasted that the sinister being who shepherded them to the afterlife was the same helpful being who kept tabs on them and kept them from stubbing their toes in too great a manner.

"Sorry Cassi, this came from Himself. I told Him I'd pass it to the Duty Shepherd, but He said I couldn't."

Turning pale under her tan that she had been working on since the early 80's (1880's), Cassi wracked her memory for something so catastrophic in her portfolio that it would involve The Top of Management. Hoping it wasn't her one charge that was trying to sabotage that insane ponce in Libya, a catastrophic failure there might mean mushroom clouds all over, she swallowed and shuddered.

"Monique, how did it get to The Top so quickly? Usually there are alarms, flights of archons taking off to let people know it's dropping in the crapper." Looking around to see if she could see signs of the impending angelic mobilizations, Cassi got up and started to slip on her cover-up over her pale blue swim attire.

"Sorry Cassi. When I said 'Himself', I meant Michael. He was fairly insistent that you take care of this latest event." Seeing the look of relief on the face of the older Shepherd, Monique smiled thinly. "He told me to tell you that you had a party of four in your office."

"Party of four? I'm a senior Shepherd, not a bloody waitress in a caravansary on the backside of Tashkent. What's he playing at?" Starting to get worried, she was beginning to see the handiwork of her 'problem child' in all this. "You don't mean…"

"Yea, your cousin's back. Trip number seven. And this time he's not alone."

* * *

_One Hour Earlier_

_0409 gmt, 2 May, 1998 – The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Harry Potter snagged the Elder Wand out of the air as Tom Riddle's spell rebounded and the Dark Lord fell lifeless to the ground. Two things happened simultaneously when Harry's hand touched flying wand. A pulse of magical energy radiated out from where he was standing to blanket the majority of the Great Hall striking unconscious every Death Eater still standing, and the memory alterations that Albus Dumbledore had performed on Harry and various others came crashing down.

Before anyone else in the Great Hall could move, two witches and a wizard were in motion, heading towards Harry. Hermione Granger, finally freed from the memory blocks that Dumbledore had performed on her eleven times over the last seven years, was running with tears streaming down her cheeks as she realized that the wizard she had loved unconditionally since she was twelve was finally free of his destiny and the meddling of their former Headmaster.

Heading for Harry as fast as she could, Hermione could see by the look in his eyes that Harry realized the same thing she did as he took a step in her direction, a look of bliss and pure joy she hadn't seen on his face since she had accepted his proposal in the Room of Requirement during their fifth year.

Though they didn't realize it at the time, that was the longest they had been able to carry on a clandestine relationship during their time at Hogwarts. The young couple had been dating for two months, mostly after DA meetings, when Harry had asked her to marry him as soon as his 'scaly little problem' was resolved. Hermione's response involving Tom Riddle, his snake, and unnatural acts that would have embarrassed even Pansy, first shocked Harry and then delighted him when he realized her graphic, but uncharacteristic response meant that she didn't want to wait any longer than her seventeenth birthday, and sooner if they thought they could get away with it.

Too giddy to check the Marauder's Map, they had walked out into the seventh-floor hallway hand in hand and blissfully unaware as two steps out the door, they were surprised by a whispered "Constant vigilance indeed," as they were obliviated for the tenth time during their Hogwarts career.

Ginevra Molly Weasley, known as 'Ginny' to most of the wizarding world and 'that bitch' to any witch who had ever been involved with a wizard that struck her fancy, even for a moment, saw the look on the faces of Harry and Hermione and realized that her worst nightmare had happened. She had whored herself for five years to finally get 'The Boy Who Lived" as hers, and all of Dumbledore's promises were coming to naught as she saw that the two remembered everything.

Blind jealousy and rage were warring for control of the young witch as she was racing towards Harry in the vain hope she could salvage something from this situation. Seeing the look of disdain on Harry's face as his emerald eyes flickered over her in response to his awareness of movement towards him, she recognized the dismissal when he turned his attention back to the oncoming bookworm who was bearing down on him like the Knight Bus heading for its garage.

Skidding to a halt a few feet from Harry, just as his outstretched hand was reaching for Hermione, Ginny gave a screech of rage and cast the first spell she could think of, intent on blowing that meddling bitch to her well deserved death.

Ronald Weasley, sometime member of the Golden Trio, wasn't the sharpest athame in the potions lab, but he had trusted his sister and mother when they told him that Hermione was going to be his, at least for as long as he wanted her. Not really desiring her, the thought of having something that Harry so desperately wanted appealed to Ron since he had spent the last seven years firmly in the shadow of 'The Boy Who Lived'.

All the while ignoring the fact that he had profited greatly from that relationship, Harry and Hermione had managed to get him through six years of school with minimal work on his part and if he was honest he'd admit that he'd have never even seen Lavender's knickers, much less gotten them off her, if he hadn't been Harry's best mate.

Lavender's incessant harping on the chances of letting Harry join them, and her skepticism of Ron's counter offer for having Hermione join them instead, lead to the demise of that doomed relationship, more so than the use of the "Pet Name that Shall Not be Uttered".

Seeing both his sister and soon to be girlfriend rocketing towards Harry, Ron realized something was wrong, and in a very big way. Now that Harry had finally defeated You Know Who, Hermione should be coming to him for a continuation of the kiss they had shared last night and Ginny should have Harry firmly under control according to their mum's instructions.

The fact that both Harry and Hermione had the same looks on their faces they had that night during a DA meeting when Ron had contacted Dumbledore in a panic didn't bode well for Ron's prospects of taking Hermione back to Gryffindor Tower. Neither did the murderous look on his sister's face as she raised her wand.

Skidding to a halt a couple of feet from the others, Ron cast the first spell he could think of and tried to summon Hermione towards him, pulling her out of his sister's line of fire.

Harry Potter, having defeated his nemesis Tom Riddle, was stunned as seven years of repressed memories flooded his mind. From first year when Hermione finally finished that sentence she had started when they were trying to rescue the Philosopher's Stone with the two words he could not remember having heard, to the moment they had discovered that Ginny was dosing them both with potions during fourth year, to the moment they were obliviated by Dumbledore as they walked out of the Room of Requirement, engaged, to last fall when Ron, under the direction of Dumbledore's portrait in the frame of Phineas Nigellus, had slipped them potions, essentially liquid obliviation prepared by Severus Snape.

His attention was drawn unerringly to the one witch in the Universe that he loved, the only person who had been with him every step of the way since Halloween their first year. Catching a flicker of motion to his right, his eyes cut over to see Ginny Weasley heading his way.

Dismissing her as irrelevant, he returned his attention to Hermione, taking a step in her direction and holding out his hand, the hand that held the Elder Wand.

As Luck, Fate, or Whomever would have it, a 'perfect storm' was created by circumstances in the wake of Tom Riddle's destruction. Just as Ron's spell had slowed Hermione just enough to keep her from doing any more than clasping Harry's outstretched hand, trapping the Elder Wand between the two hands and surprising both of them as the ancient and borderline sentient artifact accepted them both as its Master and Mistress, Ginevra's spell struck the joined hands and wand.

The ambient magic left from Riddle's destruction enveloped the four, while the resulting implosion left a nine inch depression melted into the stone floor of the Great Hall eight yards in diameter, the four young witches and wizards disappeared in a fury of released spell energy as the Elder Wand did the only thing it could think of. The Wand of Destiny lived up to its name and ripped a hole in the space-time continuum, shifting all four dying teens elsewhere.


	5. Bethrothal Contract fic

**Bull Pen 05 – Debts**

* * *

_This story is a cross between trying to answer the question 'What was Hermione thinking?' during sixth year and the obligatory marriage law fic. This one centers on Daphne Greengrass, the perfect canon OC, and a Harry that might be considered a bit out of character in that he's a bit less angsty and has decided that Dumbledore's 'help' isn't really help at all, so he needs it. Though he's still obsessed with the fact that Draco's a Death Eater and no one seems to be willing to do anything about it, but that's understandable. _

_Also, it features all of the witches who are taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, known as 'The Swots', in various supporting roles. _

* * *

**Harry Potter and the Balance of Power**

**Chapter One – Surveillance Woes**

Skulking along the seventh floor corridor, Harry Potter paused at the corner as he heard Draco's distinctive drawl up ahead.

"Keep watch, I'm going to make this slag pay and then use her to test the cabinet. If it chops her head off like that rat Borgin sent through, no great loss."

Peering around the corner, Harry caught sight of Draco levitating the unconscious form of a witch through the door into the Room of Requirement. Recognizing the witch as Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin witch in their year whose nickname 'The Ice Queen" seemed odd to Harry as she was never anything other than cordial to him on those rare occasions they had been partnered in those classes that Slytherin and Gryffindor shared, Harry saw in a glance that things were definitely not good for her.

Involuntarily flinching when Malfoy cast a glance in his direction, even though he was under his father's invisibility cloak, Harry frowned as he recognized the first year witch who was standing beside the door carrying a pair of cauldrons as one who he had seen before up on this floor.

"Crabbe, stop playing with that witch's bits, you can play with the real ones when we get back to our common room. Keep watch, I'm getting too close to getting that cabinet working for anyone to stumble onto me now."

Seeing the blushing witch pull her hand from beneath her robes, Harry shuddered as he realized that the first years that he had seen in this corridor over the months had been Crabbe and Goyle polyjuiced into lookouts for whatever it was Draco was doing in there.

Pulling back around the corner, Harry thought furiously about what he had just witnessed. Despite what Hermione thought, and he did value her opinions over everyone else's when she wasn't obsessing over Ron's relationship with Lavender Brown, there was very little that Harry couldn't imagine Draco doing, especially considering what he said about the unconscious Slytherin witch he took into the Room.

Having led a fairly sheltered life when it came to the opposite sex before he came to Hogwarts, and his experience with witches was fairly limited since the only witch he was really close to was Hermione, despite his totally failed Yule Ball experience with Parvati, and his one disastrous Hogsmeade trip with Cho, he didn't need any great degree of knowledge to realize that this was going to lead to what was called 'a fate worse than death' unless he did something.

Unfortunately for the witch in the Room of Requirement with Draco, 'something' had very limited options, right at the moment. While Harry had some confidence that he could take out the polyjuiced Crabbe without him/her dropping those cauldrons, alerting Malfoy and forcing him to do whatever it was with that cabinet he was planning for Daphne, he didn't want to bet her life upon it. If it was his life he was betting, he'd do it in a second. He'd bet on shorter odds before and won, but he didn't feel right betting someone else's unless there wasn't any other choice.

If he ran to find help, and his options for that were even slimmer since no one except Ron seemed to be too impressed with his warnings about the dangers posed by Draco Malfoy, and Ron would be exactly no help in this situation. And even if he found help it would take more time than Daphne had to return.

He was at a total loss as to how to gain entrance to the Room of Requirement and surprise Malfoy until the memory of Umbridge's raid on the DA surfaced, starting with Dobby's appearance in the Room.

Stepping back from the corner, Harry removed the cloak and whispered, "Dobby!" as softly as he could. Within seconds, Dobby appeared in front of him with a subdued 'pop', much softer than his usual entrance.

Bobbing his head up and down, his batlike ears flapping wildly, Dobby whispered in return.

"Dobby has come for the great wizard Master Harry Potter. How may Dobby serve Master Harry?"

Controlling his slight irritation at the natural enthusiasm that Dobby always exhibited in Harry's presence, Harry resisted his usual start asking him to just call him 'Harry' in the interest of time, since he was certain Daphne's was fast running out.

"Dobby, can you take me into the Room of Requirement while we're under my cloak?" Seeing the look on Dobby' face, Harry quickly explained that he had an invisibility cloak and he needed to surprise someone in there to keep a friend of his from getting hurt.

"Dobby can take Master Harry there and yous won't be needing any silly cloak," Dobby answered enthusiastically.

Before Harry could respond or react, Dobby grabbed his arm and the light shifted around them. Looking down, he could see that he was almost transparent; he could just see a ghostly outline of his legs before he looked back up at Dobby and saw that he could barely see the diminutive elf.

Before Harry could say or do anything, Dobby's grip on his arm tightened and suddenly they were elsewhere.

Looking around, Harry could see that they were in the junk filled room that seemed to be the repository of everything that had ever been forgotten or mislaid at Hogwarts. Malfoy's voice was coming from somewhere in front of him and to his left, and what he was hearing chilled him to the bone. As he moved quietly towards the voice, it became more distinct,

"You just couldn't give it up like a good little slag, could you Greengrass," Malfoy began, his voice dripping with mockery. "If you'd just gotten down on your knees when I asked, you'd be my new favorite and not laying there tied up like a Knockturn Alley whore. Which is what you'll be if you make it to Borgin and Burkes alive."

Coming to the corner of a pile of assorted broken pieces of furniture, Harry stopped at the sight before his eyes. Daphne was bent over a broken chair, her hands fastened behind her back and a piece of cloth tied around her head as a makeshift gag. Her robes had been discarded and her blouse torn open. Draco had pulled her skirt up and was standing behind her, undoing his belt buckle as he stared at the witch with a disgusting leer on his face.

As Harry stepped forward, ready to hex the unsuspecting Malfoy as he reached to remove Daphne's knickers, a visible Dobby appeared beside the Malfoy scion, a look of rage on his face.

"No one touches Master Harry's witches," the house-elf shouted, thrusting his hand out at the would-be rapist. Draco was slammed across the room, into a large black cabinet with gold trim. Breaking through the side of the cabinet, with a look of pain and surprise on his face, there was a bright flash of light and he disappeared.

Mostly.

Harry gawked for a second at the leg that tumbled out of the cabinet before moving towards Daphne. "Let her see me," was the only thing that he said as he reached down and picked up her robes and draped them over her.

Looking up wildly, there was a strange look in the Slytherin witch's eyes as she saw Harry Potter appear out of thin air and gently begin draping her robes over her, trying to conceal her. Turning to Dobby, Harry's normally casual demeanor was gone as he started issuing commands.

"Dobby, first go to the Hospital Wing. If Madam Pomfrey isn't treating a student, bring her here; tell her that a witch has been injured." His memory of the times he had seen Daphne walking around with another witch supplied the next name he needed.

"As soon as you fetch Poppy, go and find Tracy Davis and tell her that Daphne Greengrass needs her. Bring her here next."

Seeing that Dobby was staring at him in awe, Harry just rolled his eyes. "Go!"

With a startled yelp, Dobby disappeared.

Turning towards Daphne, Harry gingerly stepped forward and untied the knot behind her head. As she spit the disgusting wad of cloth that Malfoy had gagged her with out of her mouth, Harry quietly began speaking in as calm a voice as he could manage.

"Daphne, if you'll let me, I'm going to try to reach under your robes and unfasten your hands. If I touch something I shouldn't, I'm apologizing in advance for it. And if you feel you need to, tell Hermione about it afterwards, she'll hex me a good one so you won't have to."

Taking in great shuddering breaths, trying to calm her panic, Daphne spent a couple of moments trying to take in what had just happened. One moment she was seconds away from being raped by Draco Malfoy, though if Pansy's stories were to be credited it would have probably been over before she realized he'd started, and the next a pair of avenging angels had appeared.

Well an avenging Harry Potter and his apparently faithful house elf. Who looked surprisingly like the Malfoy house elf she remembered from the two times she had accompanied her father to business meetings at Malfoy Manor when she was much younger.

Taking in one last deep breath, Daphne started giggling. Seeing the look on Harry's face, and realizing that he was probably thinking she'd lost it, she shook her head.

"Harry, right now you could do anything to or with me and I'd kiss you for it. Lift up the robes and touch the ropes three times with your wand, they should release if Malfoy used the standard Slytherin House binding hex."

Waiting until her hands were free and she could gather them under her, she cautiously moved and let her robes slide down to the floor as she stood before Harry. Painfully aware of her state of undress and the ruined condition her blouse and skirt was in, she blushed furiously and began speaking.

"Harry, you really don't know me, and you have no reason to trust me, but I need to say this before we're interrupted. When Madam Pomfrey gets here, just agree with me and then when I nod, say the following sentences." Seeing his gobsmacked expression as he locked his eyes on hers to keep from looking any further south than her chin, she smiled.

"Harry, once we're done, you'll be able to look all you want." Waiting for him to take a deep breath and nod, though his cheeks were redder than hers, probably even redder than Weasley red, she smiled.

"When I nod, state in a loud voice 'As an Heir of the Seven, I declare Daphne Greengrass protected by House Potter and House Black, and I activate the ancient pacts between these families. By my will and my right, I declare it to be so.' Can you remember all that?"

Before Harry could do anything but nod, which caused his eyes to drift south of Daphne's chin, much to her amusement and his embarrassment, there was a 'pop' and Dobby appeared with a loudly protesting Poppy Pomfrey in tow.

Matron Pomfrey's protests about being hustled out of her infirmary by a house elf were cut off when she saw Daphne Greengrass standing there with her clothes in ruins and a blushing Harry Potter standing before her. Just as she stepped towards the pair, Daphne held up her hand, her Ice Queen persona firmly in place.

"Matron Pomfrey, before you begin treating me and thanking Lord Potter for rescuing me from an attack, there is business of the Seven Families that you are now witness to." Turning her attention to Dobby, Daphne gazed at the house-elf for a moment before speaking.

"Dobby, your service has been excellent, and House Greengrass appreciates your loyal efforts on behalf of House Potter and House Greengrass. After you retrieve Miss Davis, would you then retrieve Lady Bones for me?"

Seeing Dobby's enthusiastic nod, she smiled and turned her attention back to Harry. Nodding to him, she glared for a second before mouthing "Harry!" to prompt him to speak.

Opening his mouth, Harry closed it hurriedly and looked at Daphne. As she nodded again, rather imperiously, he began.

"As an Heir of the Seven, I Harry James Potter declare that Daphne Greengrass is protected by House Potter and House Black, and I activate the pacts between these families. By my will and my right, I declare it to be so."

As Harry finished speaking, a gold and blue aura settled around each teen. For a moment if felt as if an electrical surge went through Harry's system, which seemed to settle in his chest before dissipating with an audible 'ping'.

As the crystalline ping echoed through the room, their auras surged for a moment and then joined. As they did, Harry's eyes were locked on Daphne's and he knew by how wide hers became, she really wasn't expecting that to happen.

Suddenly, it was as if someone had opened a pair of windows in his mind that he was looking through, and he could swear that the Slytherin witch he had just rescued was staring back at him through one of them. Suddenly, that window slammed shut as Daphne's eyes rolled up in her head and she began to collapse.


	6. Accidental Werewolf

Bull Pen 06 – Furry

_a/n – This one focuses on Teddy and Victoire, with a slight twist. It's Harmony compliant, EWE, and chapter one is a series of scenes that show the two growing up together, along with explaining exactly how Victoire ended up two years behind Teddy Lupin in school. Also, it takes the stance that Fleur was lying her bahookie off during the TriWiz to mislead the press since there's no such thing as a quarter or half veela. Either you're Veela or you're not. And Victoire's a veela. _

_Of course, it can't be that simple, a fluffy little story about a romance between a Veela and a Metamorphmagus. _

* * *

**Love and the Accidental Werewolf – A fluffy, furry little tail.**

**Chapter One – Fuzzy Beginnings**

_8 August 1999 Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London_

"Crooks, behave yourself!"

Shaking her head in exasperation, Hermione Granger handed Teddy off to Harry and walked over to the portable cot they had set up in the sitting room. Smiling apologetically at Fleur Weasley, Hermione reached down and scooped the ginger familiar into her arms.

"I honestly don't know what's gotten into him. He's usually very good with children; I'm always amazed at his patience with Teddy's continually confusing him with some sort of plush toy."

Shrugging, in a typically Gallic fashion, Fleur smiled in return as she levitated a giggling Victoire from the cot and into her arms.

"Eet is no problem, Hermione. As adorable as our petite belle Victoire is, I doubt she weel ever be a 'cat person'. If you think your Crookshanks doesn't like her, you should have seen Aunt Muriel's Ophelia last weekend. One would have thought that she was zee 'Hound of zee Baskervilles' from the way Muriel's kneazel was carrying on."

Placing the giggling infant down on the playmat in front of the chesterfield beside the quietly playing Teddy, the four adults returned to their conversations. Teddy looked up and watched the blonde haired infant beside him for a few seconds and then returned to his blocks.

A few minutes later, when Crookshanks had escaped from his mistress' embrace, movement at the edge of the playmat caught Teddy's attention. Seeing his playmate Crookshanks watching the baby beside him with a baleful glare and a swishing tail, Teddy put down his blocks and crawled over to where he was between Crookshanks and Victoire.

Closing his eyes and frowning, he shifted his hair and eye-color until it mimicked his mum's. Opening his now chocolate brown eyes, he glared at Crookshanks. "Bad Crooks. No." Shaking his head at the ginger familiar, who was staring at him curiously, he seemed unaware that all four of the adults in the room were watching him and chuckling at his scolding of the ginger kneazel-mix. Only Kreacher was watching the sleeping infant, deep in concentration, and smiling.

* * *

_24 December, 2006 The Burrow, Ottery-St.-Catchpole_

"One more step, and you are a dead wizard."

"Vic, don't get your back up, I was just curious to see if there was anything I could tell about the presents for tomorrow." Smiling sheepishly, Teddy Lupin looked over his shoulder at his best mate, Victoire Weasley, his hand just inches from a green and gold wrapped package near the tree in the Burrow sitting room.

"Well, your story would be a bit more believable if it weren't for the fact that your grimy fingers are about to clutch the present I brought for you, Monsieur 'I'm So Misunderstood'." Seeing the puppy-dog look on his face, she rolled her eyes.

"Don't even start. Your mum might buy that from your dad, but I'm not going to. I've known you my entire life and I'm not going to start letting you charm your way out of trouble." Seeing the hangdog look on his face, she shrugged. "Well, not all the time."

Shrugging, Teddy pulled his hand back and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry Vic, I just wanted to make certain what I got you measured up to what you've gotten me." Walking over to where his best mate was standing, he nodded towards the overstuffed chair by the door. "Want to wait with me for Mum and Dad to get back?"

"Of course, silly. Where else would I be, upstairs with the babies?" Grinning, she dramatically flipped her blonde hair and moved towards the seat he'd selected. "Why didn't you go with them?"

Blushing, Teddy shrugged his shoulders as they both sat themselves in the chair. Once they were comfortable, which seemed to only occur when Victoire was sprawled across Teddy's lap, he smiled self-consciously.

"Mum asked me to go with them to the Hollow, but I didn't want to go alone. And since you weren't around, I begged off." Seeing the understanding look on her face, he nodded. "I sort of feel like I'm intruding on the two of them at Christmas. I like going with them other times during the year, but tonight…" Drifting off, he turned to his friend and saw the understanding in her eyes.

"Ted, I know what you mean. Your mum and dad have shared so much over the years; there are certain things and times that are just for them and them alone. Papa says that they'll be the death of the family by the time they get themselves sorted out." Breaking off, she turned her head, and took a deep breath.

"They're here."

"I'll never figure out how you do that." Shaking his head, Teddy rolled his eyes.

"_Il est tres simple._" Smirking, she kissed him quickly on his cheek before continuing. "Your mum has worn that vanilla fragrance for ever. And your dad always smells like a bit like parchment and ink, which is really peculiar considering it's your Mum that's always up to her ears in parchmentwork."

Jumping up, she grabbed his hand. "Let's go see them, maybe your dad finally found his nerve and proposed to her."

* * *

_1 September 2009 – Platform 9 and 3/4s. King's Cross_

"Totally unfair"

Standing there, staring forlornly at the waiting train, Victoire Weasley felt tears prickling in her eyes. Refusing to look at the young wizard at her side, she sighed dramatically.

"I can't believe you're getting on that stupid train without me."

"Come on, Cabbage, we talked about this." Smiling sadly, Teddy looked over at where his parents were standing, waiting to say their 'goodbyes' before he left for his first year at Hogwarts. "The only way I could get out of it would be to homeschool." Seeing the involuntary shudder from his best mate at the prospect of homeschooling under the watchful eye of Hermione Potter, Teddy nodded.

"It's still not fair. If you really loved me, you'd do it. We both could." Catching the roll of his eyes out of the corner of hers, she smirked. "You know I'd sit through a year of hell with your mum to keep up with you." Shaking her head, she glared. "And stop calling me 'Cabbage'. The phrase is '_Mon petit chou_'. _Mon Dieu_."

"And, according to your dad, the translation is 'My little cabbage', Cabbage."

"Just great, I'm stuck at home and you're off charming the knickers off every Slytherin hottie you meet with French phrases my Mum taught you."

"Vic, how many times do I have to tell you, that's not going to happen?" Putting his arm around his best friend, he smiled. "At best I'm going to spend the year getting everyone ready for the arrival of the hottest girl to ever enroll in Hogwarts."

"You're just saying that because my mum went to Beauxbatons." Sighing dramatically, the young blonde put her hand to her forehead. "Oh, the burden it is, being moi."

"Let's go let my folks say 'goodbye' to me and then you can help me pick out a compartment on the train."

"Smooth talker. Since its thirty minutes until the train leaves, how much of an inspection of your compartment are you hoping for?" Smirking, Victoire watched as Teddy's hair began to shift colour.

"You're adverse to saying goodbye to me without my parents standing there watching us?" Looking over at where his parents were standing, he blushed as he noticed his mother watching them.

"Should I tell you mum she's pregnant? That might distract them a bit." Grinning mischievously, Victoire stopped when she saw the knowing smile on her friend's face. "How'd you know?"

"I think they've been trying to have another one since James is almost two. They were making jokes about finding the worst possible baby name for a Potter baby at the dinner table last night." Seeing the subtle shake of her head, he smirked. "Told you you should have come over for dinner last night."

"Mama insisted I stay home since Aunt Luna and Aunt Audrey were both there, along with Aunt Gabbie." Shaking her head over her mother's younger sister, she sighed. "That girl has so still got the hots for your dad."

"'Got the hots'?"

"American slang. Aunt Audrey was talking about Gabbie still crushing on your dad while she was out of the room being lectured by Mum last night." Looking over at Teddy she chuckled. "What was the worst name? Vernon Tom?"

"That was Kreacher's suggestion, but it came in second." Shaking his head, Teddy laughed. "I still can't believe Dad had the nerve to even suggest 'Albus Severus'."

* * *

_Boxing Day 2009 – Maxine's Café, London_

"Fleur, it's good to see you." Smiling, Hermione Potter stood as the blonde witch approached her table. "Thanks for taking time away from the family."

"Hermione, it's been a bit over twenty-four hours since we were both at the Burrow for Christmas morning and much less since Beel and I left Grimmauld Place last night." Smiling wickedly, she took the seat across from her friend and nodded to the server who was standing there. "Bonjour Natalia, and a belated _Joyeux Noel_. I'll have one of your specialty buttered rums, _s'il vous plait_."

"Yes mum, I'll get the drinks and be back momentarily." Nodding cheerfully, the red-haired witch took the wink from the blonde to mean that it would be best if she arrived quickly with the drinks and took her time returning for the rest of the order.

Smiling nervously, Hermione nodded absentmindedly as the server retreated from their table. Fleur waited patiently until their server had returned with the drinks and retreated from the general area. Seeing Hermione was still trying to figure out how to begin, Fleur took a cautious sip of the buttered dwarven rum and sighed.

"Hermione, just start with whatever's got you so flummoxed and we'll work from there, non? Your patronus was very distracted and made it sound as if it was something serious."

"Actually, I'm not certain where to begin." Picking up her mulled cider, Hermione took a generous drink before looking at the other witch over the top of her glass. "I was up early this morning, and went to see if the kids were awake yet." Breaking off, Hermione set her glass down and began to worry the napkin in front of her. "I stopped by Victoire's room..."

"And it was empty, non?" Shaking her head at the astonished look on her friend's face, she nodded kindly. "Not only that, but ze bed was still made up, oui?"

"Oui. I mean yes." Narrowing her eyes, Hermione glared at the blonde witch across from her. "You knew?"

"But of course." Shaking her head and chuckling, Fleur watched the various emotions playing across her friend's face. "Hermione, you have forgotten one important thing. _Ma fille, elle est une veela_." Shaking her head, she chuckled. "Like myself, my daughter is a veela."

"And exactly how does that explain that your daughter and my son have apparently been sleeping in the same bed whenever one or the other has stayed the night and I found the pair of them in a full out snog this morning when I peeked in on Teddy to see where Victoire had gotten to."

Looking annoyed that her friend and the mother of her eleven-year-old son's apparent girlfriend wasn't upset by this revelation, Hermione stared at the blonde witch as she calmly set the mug back on the table.

"Hermione, did you ever do any research into veelas, other than the sensational things that 'everyone knows' about us?" Clearly amused, Fleur sat back into her chair and watched her friend fume. "Even back during the tournament when I was causing such a stir among the young wizards at Hogwarts?"

Shaking her head, Hermione blushed a bit. "Honestly, no. I just attributed it all to wishful thinking and legend. Especially since Harry seemed mostly immune to the whole thing, I just attributed it to teenage wizard hormones and concentrated on keeping him alive during that ridiculous event."

Shaking her head, Fleur rolled her eyes. "Hermione, if you would have done any research at all, you would have known two things. Why ze wizards were flocking around me and why your precious Harry was mostly oblivious to me." Seeing the curious look on Hermione's face, she composed her features and began.

"All Veela have an ability to attract the males of the species. Our nature has us in search of 'The One' and we simply unconsciously attract the attention of males until we find him." Seeing the suspicious look on the other witch, she shrugged. "It is true."

"'The One'?" Looking incredulous, Hermione shook her head. "Forgive me if that sounds a bit… fantastic." At a loss for words, she sat back and took another sip of the cider. Silently wishing that her condition would allow her something a bit stronger, she sighed.

"A relationship where the hearts, soul, and magic of two individuals are linked together for this life and the next is fantastic? As fantastic as magic existing, as fantastic as my being the descendant of a race that lure men to a blissful doom and can change into outsized birds of prey?" Staring at disbelief, she smirked. "Especially since you and Harry have such a relationship how can you doubt it?"

"Back to this allure that veela have. I can credit that it exists, I saw the results with my own eyes, but Harry only reacted that once, during the World Cup pregame."

"Oui, and that was a slight reaction to dozens of veela trying their best to entice and beguile." Shaking her head, she shrugged.

"I really don't understand my eastern cousins, they spend too much of their life on the hunt, they postpone settling down until much too late if you ask me." Nodding, Fleur smiled as she could see her friend was beginning to understand.

"Once I had a chance to observe the two of you together, I put the word out to my classmates that the legendary 'Hareee Potter' was well and truly taken, so they could just put their French wiles to rest." Chuckling, Fleur arched an eyebrow at the brunette witch across from her. "For the most part, they listened."

"Gabrielle?" A bit amused, Hermione shrugged her shoulders when Fleur nodded in answer. "I really had hoped she would have gotten over her infatuation with him."

"Ah, but Hermione, you forget that Veela and fishermen have something in common, a very long-term memory for 'zee one that got away'." Shaking her head, Fleur looked reprovingly at Hermione.

"Back to the subject of my time at Hogwarts, I was very disappointed in you when you allowed him to go to the Yule Ball with another witch just so you could appear on the arm of the dour Monsieur Krum. As gallant as Victor was, I couldn't understand why you'd let your wizard attend the ball with another witch."

"Harry never asked, so when Victor asked, I eventually accepted." Looking a bit defensive, Hermione took another sip of her cider, absentmindedly rubbing her hand over her pregnant belly.

"Did you think to tell the boy that you would appreciate him asking?" Seeing the shocked look on her face, she sighed.

"It's a wonder there are any wizards and witches left in England, you make it so difficult sometimes for Nature to take Her course. It's difficult to credit the Normans had any influence on this puritanical little island at all."

"Witches don't ask wizards to the bloody Yule Ball." Shaking her head, Hermione smiled self-consciously. "No matter how much we would want to."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Fleur laughed. "Hermione, I now understand exactly why it took you two over a decade to sort things out." Continuing in spite of the blush on her friend's face, she nodded.

"Back to the veela. From the time a veela reaches menarche until she finds 'The One', she unconsciously radiates this attraction to make certain that she has the attention of the one she is supposed to be with when she finds him. Once she finds him, she can still have that effect on males, but it's conscious and very much under her control."

"And what has this got to do with our children, who are much too young to be sitting there snogging for all they're worth at half seven in the morning? Especially since it apparently seems they're much too old to be sharing a bed any longer."

"Victoire is a veela, and Teddy is 'The One' for her." Seeing the disbelief in Hermione's eyes, Fleur shrugged in a very Gallic fashion. "It is true."

"How? When?"

"When? Last spring. Victoire made the transition a few days after her tenth birthday, and apparently she and Teddy accepted the fact that they were right for each other in very short order because she was causing a stir in zee village for less than a week."

Seeing the look of disbelief in Hermione's eyes, she smiled. "It took me until I was almost twenty to find my beloved. My mother didn't find Papa until she was a ripe old twenty-one. My grandmother was a bit more traditional, she was from Provence and was working with the Ministry in Paris and didn't meet my grandfather until she was well into her eighties."

Shaking her head, Hermione glared at the other witch. "I've met your grandmother, she can't be that old."

"For a veela, it is simple. We tend to reach an age where we feel we are our most desirable, if we haven't found our other half by then and just stay there until we do. Grandmother Giselle looked as if she was seventeen until she met Grandfather Guillaume and then began to slowly age. And since she is a veela, it slows the aging for both halves of the couple."

"And exactly how does this pertain to our children? And I'm still waiting for the 'How'."

"Hermione, unfortunately, the fact the two of them found each other so fast will probably mean that they will grow up before any of us are ready to let them go. In fact, it would explain why both of them have always seemed older than they should be." Seeing the alarmed look on the brunette's face, Fleur held up a hand.

"I don't mean that they literally grow older, but they have become a bit more mature than the children around them both physically and emotionally, and this will continue until they're both ready to move forward." Shaking her head, Fleur smiled softly. "And as to 'How', it is magic, I suppose."

"That's not a very satisfying answer, you do realize." Looking annoyed, Hermione rolled her eyes at the shrug from the other witch. "I realize I'm a witch, you're a witch, she's a witch and he's a wizard, but still…" Looking lost, Hermione shook her head.

"I'm just repeating what my Grandmother Giselle told me when she mentioned it to me two years ago." Seeing the shocked look on Hermione's face, Fleur smiled.

"She could see the potential for the two of them, said it was the fact that Victoire was her father's daughter that she would choose and choose so early. When I asked her 'Why?' she simply replied, 'Magic'. Two years later, that's all she'll say, but she saw the connection between the two then, just as I saw the connection between you and Harry during the Tournament."

Seeing the server approaching, both witches put off the conversation to order. Making small talk until their lunches had arrived, they both waited until they were nibbling on desserts with coffee before they turned back to the reason for their meeting.

Chuckling, Hermione shook her head. Looking at her curiously, Fleur arched an eyebrow and waited. Finally Hermione nodded and sighed. "I take it Gabrielle hasn't found her match, yet."

Smirking, Fleur shrugged again. "My younger sister is having too much fun searching to actually find, I think. Although she's very frustrated that the wizard she wants to be 'The One' belongs to another, but she knows the risks of trying to interfere to actually do more than flirt with your Harry. But it still is very frustrating for her since his doesn't pay her any heed."

"It does amuse him; Harry simply chalks it up to a crush after rescuing her all those years ago." Smiling tolerantly as she thought about the antics of Fleur's younger sister around Harry, she nodded. "What should we do about the children and what should I tell Harry?"

"I would suggest you tell Harry exactly what I've told my husband. Nothing." Seeing the shocked look on her face, Fleur nodded solemnly. "Both are well meaning, they love their children very much, but both are wizards, and that means that no matter how hard they try, they will be hard pressed to understand a matter of the heart such as this.

"Beel knows it will happen someday, but he is content to believe his little princess is a long way from making that decision in her life. If he wasn't the DADA professor, I would be able to discuss it with him something after she's finished her OWLS. However, since they will both be his students, what happens, happens."

Looking a bit troubled, Hermione glanced at Fleur a couple of times as she thought about what the other witch had said as she toyed with her dessert. Finally placing the fork down on the plate, she nodded. "I can see that, but what do I say to the children? What have you said to them?"

"Again, nothing so far. I had planned on talking to both of them before Victoire goes off to Hogwarts next fall, and I had planned on breaking the news to you and enlisting your help for that." Seeing the look on Hermione's face, she smiled and nodded. "My intent was to find out how much you knew about veelas and then gradually bring you around to the subject, but since you know, and Victoire knows you know…" Seeing the shocked look on Hermione's face, Fleur laughed.

"She noticed you standing there, even though she was busy snogging your son. She called me on your library floo just before you messaged me, so I was waiting for your message when it arrived. I had a short discussion with her regarding appropriate behavior and suggested that if she really didn't want anyone to know she was slipping into Teddy's bed, she needed to start the night in hers and then it will look slept in it the next morning if she doesn't make it back before someone comes to check on her."

Seeing the annoyed look on Hermione's face, she smiled. "She's spent too much time with you, she dislikes causing Kreacher and Winky extra work making up the bed if she's not going to use it."

"What should we do in the mean time?" Looking perplexed, Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose. "Start planning the wedding? Start planning my son's funeral for when you husband catches them?"

"Just let them be children. Children that are very much in love, but children nevertheless. They won't do anything until they're both ready and want to, so we shouldn't worry there." Looking smug, she sighed.

"This year with Teddy off at Hogwarts by himself, they're fine, but before Victoire joins him next fall, we will need to have a small chat with the Headmistress and their head of house before she joins him."

"This is a conversation with Minerva that I'm not looking forward to." Shaking her head, Hermione was vainly trying to envision the reaction from her former Head of House to this discussion. And then thinking about her school friend Neville, she actually blushed.

"Or with their Head of House, for that matter."

"Give your Headmistress a bit of credit. She was a student the last time a veela attended Hogwarts." Seeing the look on Hermione's face, Fleur smiled. "One of her dormmates, actually. And she wasn't paired up while she was a student, so the Gryffindor common room was a very popular place for seven years. I'm certain Minerva will appreciate the small inconvenience of allowing for the eccentricities of Teddy and Victoire rather than having a veela in full search mode distracting every eligible wizard in the castle." Shaking her head, Fleur chuckled. "Along with a few of the witches, if my time there was any indication."

"Really? Do tell." Looking intrigued, Hermione indulged her rarely expressed need to gossip with a raised eyebrow. "Anyone I know?"

Smiling smugly, Fleur shrugged. "Let's just say that through my repeated unwanted conversations with that Slytherin witch you loathe so much, it would seem she 'plays both sides of the quaffle' as the saying goes."

That was the last coherent thought Hermione had for quite a while, as it took until well after the bill arrived for her to stop laughing

* * *

_31 August, 2010 - Shell Cottage_

"One word, just one word Lupin, and I'll hit you so hard you'll be seeing your life flash before your eyes."

"I'm sorry Vic, I didn't know I had the flu, and I certainly didn't know you would catch it." Sitting uncomfortably on the edge of Victoire's bed, Teddy shook his head.

"I think that blasted Hufflepuff swot you were falling all over last year did it on purpose." Pouting, Victoire Weasley was sitting on her bed, dressed in Teddy's Gryffindor quidditch jersey, a pair of shorts, and covered in feathers. Brilliant yellow feathers.

"I didn't catch bird flu from her, and the girl has a name. Nadia is an excellent student; we were revising together all year while I was trying to get her fixed up with one of my dormmates." Shaking his head at her insecurity, Teddy smiled.

"She's nothing like her father 'The Hyphen' as Dad calls him, and she most definitely has her eye on Hector, so you can just stop with this obsession you have with her.

"Most likely it was from that ridiculous laughing owl that visiting professor Kettlemyer from Dunedin brought with him when he came to lecture at Mum's summer series at the castle. Mum kept telling him his Whekau looked a bit off; she finally made him go see the healers at Eyelops. They quarantined the bloody menace, the day after we left to go on holiday in Brighton." Looking up at her, his heart broke at the distress on her face.

"Honestly, I didn't realize I had the flu until after we all got back from going to the beach with the Durselys."

Reaching over, she put her hand on his arm and squeezed gently.

"I know, and if I didn't realize that I could catch the bird part of bird flu from being Veela, how were you supposed to know?"

"I can't believe you can't go to school this year." Shaking his head and laying back on the bed, he stared at the ceiling. "I don't care if your mum sat out a year for the same reason; you'd think they'd find a cure or a shot like the muggles have, or something."

"Teddy, it's all right. I'm not going to hex you, but I'm still not a happy witch." Scowling, Victoire scooted down the bed, lifted his head onto her lap and sat there watching him. "You better not even think about having a good time this year."

"Uncle Neville said he's going to ask the Headmistress if I can come home one weekend a month to keep you company." Looking up at her, he smiled as he could see a light in her blue eyes.

"_Non. Impossible._" Shaking her head gently, the blonde witch smiled at the look on her best friend's face. "_Merci beaucoup_, but there are three very good reasons why you're not going to do that."

"All right, Cabbage, why aren't I going to come home to keep you company one weekend a month?" Sighing, Teddy closed his eyes as she began playing with his hair. Changing the color of his hair to a faint blue, which showed his confusion, he smiled as she giggled once before speaking.

"The first, _ma petit chiot_, is that neither of us wants to trade on our families or our names. If it weren't for me, you'd never think of letting Uncle Neville set something like that up and you know it." Smiling at him, she nodded as he thought about it.

"Blast, you're good." Opening his eyes, he stared up at her. "Number two is just as good?"

"I'll let you be the judge." Smiling, she dimpled as she nodded. "The second reason is that you're Gryffindor's hotshot seeker and I'm not going to be remotely involved with Gryffindor not taking the quidditch and House Cups again this year." Nodding seriously at the shocked look on his face, she smiled.

"You start skiving off weekend practices to come home to see me, do you really think I want to explain to Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, Uncle Ron, ma Papa, Uncle George, or Aunt Angelina why we're in second place to those snakes in Slytherin?" Trying to keep a serious face, she bit her lip at the look on his face.

"Number two is good. I can't imagine the look on the Headmistress' face if she had to give the cups back to Slytherin. I thought she was going to dance a jig in front of everyone when she handed the House Cup to Uncle Neville at the Leaving Feast." Smiling, Teddy morphed his features until they matched Harry Potter's at age twelve. "I am only the second first year to play in over a century."

"Stop that, who do you think I am, some sort of fangirl?" Shaking her head, Victoire giggled, causing her feathers to rustle.

"Do you think I've got a shot with your Aunt Gabbie? She's kinda hot for an older witch." Panicking at the look on her face, he quickly shifted back to his normal looks. "Vic, you know that I'm just kidding."

"Teddy, you're such a prat, sometimes." Shaking her head, her feathers rustled as she glared at him. "It's going to be bad enough, you going back to school without you making jokes about my crazy aunt."

Rolling up off her lap, Teddy wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to him.

"I'm a git, I know. I was just trying to make you smile, Cabbage."

Holding her close for a second, Teddy nodded. "Have you forgiven me enough to tell me about reason number three?"

"Regardless of how much of a prat you can be, at times, I do love you and I do trust you, so I'll be fine here at home while you're off at school until the Christmas hols, but I expect you to be standing in my door as soon as you can get your scrawny arse to Shell Cottage."

The pair sat there, side by side for almost a minute, just holding each other. Finally Victoire blew out the breath she had been unconsciously holding.

"This is ridiculous; I lose another year being at school with you. I'll be the oldest first year student in the history of Hogwarts, at the rate I'm going." Shaking her head, she sighed.

"Teddy, I know we said…"

"Nothing's changed, at least as far as I'm concerned." Shaking his head, Teddy brushed his cheek against hers, trying not to react as the feathers tickled his face. "You're still my best mate, and nothing's ever going to change that."

"Teddy, be serious. Best mates don't normally do this." Reaching up, she slipped her hand behind his head and slowly leaned forward. Brushing her lips against his, her eyes sparkled for a second before he started kissing her.

Feeling him wrap his arms around her, she slowly deepened the kiss until they were engaged in a full out snog. Shifting until she was sitting on his lap, Victoire pressed herself against him until the need for oxygen forced them to stop.

"Do they?" Looking at him intently, her blue eyes staring into his hazel ones, they both waited until their breathing returned to normal before she smiled and leaned against him, letting her cheek rest against his shoulder.

"Only if they're very lucky." Rolling his eyes, Teddy shook his head. "How did I end up snogging my best mate?"

"Your best mate's a veela, so it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility." Blushing a bit at the look on his face, she nodded. "That, and the fact that we've practically grown up together seems to have conspired to bring us together sooner rather than later. Like it or not, we seemed to have chosen each other."

"What's not to like?" Smiling as she started chuckling, Teddy looked up as he heard someone in the hallway outside Victoire's room. "Vic?"

Smirking, she held on tighter. "It's just Mama and your Mum, and since they both know, it won't do any harm if they come in."

"They know!?" Teddy's voice broke a bit as he stared at her. "How in the name of Merlin did that happen?"

"Be serious, Chiot. Mama is a veela and your Mum is Hermione Potter. Honestly." Shaking her head, she smirked. "Mama, it's safe to come in, Teddy's got his clothes back on."

The bedroom door slowly swung open and Teddy looked up to see his Mum and Victoire's both standing in the doorway, shaking their heads and rolling their eyes, almost in unison. While a study in contrasts, the two witches had the same amused look on their faces.

"Mum?" Seeing the faint ghost of a smile on his mother's lips, reminiscent of when she was desperately trying not to smile at something his father had done, he relaxed a bit. "Mrs. Weasley?"

Looking around, Fleur Weasley looked slightly flustered. Hermione shook her head. "Stop that, he's talking to you, not Molly." Trying not to smile, she nodded to the two sitting on the bed. "I think Victoire's had just about enough excitement for one day, don't you Fleur?"

"_Mais oui_. Teddy is very good for Victoire's morale, but I think he probably needs to start packing for school tomorrow." Shaking her head, and trying to hide a smirk behind her hand, she chuckled. "We'll leave you two to say goodbye, but be downstairs in five minutes."

As the two witches turned to leave, Hermione looked back over her shoulder at her son. "And Theodore, make certain you wipe the feathers off your face, you look like the cat that ate the budgie."

"Mum!"


End file.
